The claimed subject matter relates to the protection of proprietary or sensitive data stored on computing and other electronic devices by deletion thereof following the theft or loss of such a device.
Proprietary information is routinely stored on electronic devices such as personal computers, laptop computers and personal digital assistants, and the need to protect such proprietary or sensitive data from theft or misuse is self-evident. Accordingly, in addition to the use of basic encryption techniques and on-line monitoring systems, various systems and methods addressing the need to detect the tampering or theft of an electronic device without the device having to be connected to the internet have been proposed.
By way of example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,480,096 describes a method and apparatus for theft deterrence and secure data retrieval in a communication device. When a processor detects unauthorized use, it deletes an encryption key, transmits a stealth code to a base station and receives data into a secure memory location transparent to an unauthorized user of the communication device.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,748,084 describes a device security system. Tamper detection logic implemented in software or hardware responds to tampering or removal of a security beacon or other component by alerting via a transmitter and/or disabling functionality of the device.
U.S. Patent Applications Publication Nos. 2005/0216757 and 2006/0272020 describe a tamper resistant servicing agent for providing various services such as data delete upon receipt of an instruction transmitted via the internet from a monitoring center.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0021005 describes a system and method for data destruction stored on a lost portable electronic device. A client computing device communicates periodically with a server. If communication is not established between the client and the server for a selected activation interval and a subsequent grace period, data is determined to be lost, and programmed security rules, such as data deletion, are automatically executed.
Tamper detection logic may, however, trigger false alarms, as could the expiration of a grace period. There is therefore a further need to ensure that false alarms are not triggered accidentally, causing data to be unnecessarily deleted. Such a need would ideally be fulfilled without annoyance to and with no more than minimal effort from the user.